Chatham man in top three, first master at 12K

Stuart Haynes of Chatham didn’t let the young runners from the Garden State Track Club New Balance intimidate him.The forty-two-year-old, running on the open Garmin team placed third overall in the 12K at the first annual by Hook or by Crook at Sandy Hook this past Sunday.The Garden State club with well balanced squads took first through fourth place with the Shore Athletic Club in fifth and Haynes’ Garmin team in sixth place.

Haynes finished in 40:30, behind Kyle Price of North Brunswick, who finished in 40:10, and Matt Gillette of Orefield PA who topped the field in 39:50.

Erika Meling of North Brunswick won the women’s race in 46:45, with Kiera Russo of Long Branch next in 46:57.Karen Auteri of Belvidere was third in 47:06.

Meling was on the winning open women’s Garden State Track Club New Balance team, while Russo was on the third place Shore Athletic Club team, behind the second place Garden State B team.

The Garden State club had winning teams in the M40 and M50 and W40 divisions.Clifton women won the W50 division and their M70 team won that division.Raritan Valley Road Runners won the W60 division and the Shore AC won the M60 division.

These same clubs are competing this morning in Jersey City running in the Newport Liberty Half Marathon.

NEW JERSEY RUNNERS LOVE THE FIFTH AVENUE MILE

While the clubs and individuals were enjoying their taste of running the unfamiliar 12 kilometers, which translates into seven and four tenths of a mile, others were running faster and much shorter at the Fifth Avenue Mile in Manhattan.Several New Jersey runners had excellent races.

Suzanne LaBurt of Greenwood Lake won the W55 division in a time of 5:40. Peter Kashulines of Mountain Lakes was first in the M55 division in 4:51.Erika Campbell of Ridgewood placed second in the W65 division in 6:51 and Harry Nolan of Navesink also placed second, in his M70 division in 6:12.

Diane DeOliveira of Brick placed third in the W45 division in 5:29 and John Killduff of Middletown also took third, in his M65 division in 6:00.

Going even further from home, Mark Williams of Columbiatook second in the 800 meter run at the World Masters Athletics championship in Malaga Spain last week.Williams’ time was 2:01.26.As of press time on Friday his 1,500 meter race had not been run.